My onocologist wants me to start taking everolimus for my targeted p13k cancer. also targeted p53 cancer and there is no target treatment for that yet. I would stay on the gemzar/avastin while taking new med. I had a reaction to the cisplatin? so have been taken off it.
Has anyone else used this , and what were your results? The paper work she gave me for the new pill is med speak and sounds like research material .
What is pk13 treatment . Never actually heard about it . Mouser
Not sure what the p13 and p53 stand for and have not heard of everolimus, perhaps you could tell us more, meantime maybe you could use the help line one of the nurses may be of help. Love x
I am wondering if you are living in the UK ? as I have never heard of this either when I looked it up it was for other cancers... have you got ovarian cancer ? or perhaps another cancer as well as OC ?
Best wishes love x G x
Hi, Copper.
My ovarian cancer is also PIK3CA mutated, but I´m not using target therapy - my onco says he will keep this information for later, first he´ll try to control the disease with the normal chemo - Avastin and Caelyx this turn, as first line with carboplatin and taxol had no effect.
Everolimus is a mTOR inhibitor and is standard treatment for some kinds of breast, kidney and pancreas cancer. Onco said it may be used for PIK3CA cancer because mTOR is a result of that kind of mutation, but it´s not approved for ovarian cancer. So, probably your physian really showed you some research material.
Good luck with your treatment. And if you receive everolimus - Afinitor is the brand name - tell us about the results, maybe I can convince my onco to prescribe it for me too.
Hugs, Fernanda
thanks for replying. I feel like a guinia pig but am leaning toward trying the afinitor if our insurance will approve. My onoc. hasn't said how long I will need to use it.
PIK3 enzymes (also sometimes called P13Ks) are involved in cell growth and proliferation, and thus are relevant to cancer growth. There are presumably normal and abnormal variants controlled by normal or abnormal variants (alleles) of genes, and where one has an abnormal variant, as copperpenny and Fernanda have been told they have, it is possible that treatment may be targetted at that variant. Everolimus is one such treatment.
Gene variants such as these may be involved in the growth of many different types of cancer. Therefore a treatment that appears to work for one type of cancer because of its effect on particular variants of genes may well be worth trying in the treatment of other types of cancer where the tumour in question appears to have the same variants of genes. Everolimus appears to have been used with some success against kidney, breast and pancreatic tumours with bad variants of PIK3 enzymes, so while it has not been officially approved for use against ovarian tumours, if the ovarian tumours in question appear to have arisen because of bad variants of PIK3 enzymes, it is possible that everolimus might also have a beneficial effect on them. It won't work against all ovarian tumours, any more than it will work against all kidney, pancreatic or breast tumours.
Whew - a bit long-winded, but I hope that might help!
Barbara
Effective treatment
life after treatment 
Waiting times for treatment of recurrence
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